Nell Hill's Rooms We Love

A wish-book come true! In Nell Hill's Rooms We Love, decorating maven Mary Carol Garrity coaches readers on how to affordably decorate rooms they will fall in love with. Named "One of America's hottest little retailers" by Fortune magazine, Mary Carol Garrity's mini empire of three decor stores are a Midwest regional phenomenon and have become landmarks in the decorating world.

In Nell Hill's Rooms We Love, Mary Carol applies her Nell Hill's principles of design to new challenges. Even though design styles and trends have changed significantly since Nell Hill's Style at Home, the rules that guide her approach to decorating have not. In this book, rediscover those principles at work in four very different houses, in addition to her own home. Throughout the book, various rooms are highlighted that were inspired by the needs of each homeowner and were transformed using Mary Carol's inspiration and "tricks of the trade." Homes featured include:


A century-old English Tudor in a city neighborhood, reinvented for empty nesters
A suburban tear-down that was rebuilt for a growing family
A home in the country, newly built but with an old soul
A sweeping country manor with one-of-a kind rooms


While traveling through these homes, Mary Carol constructs the process and provides readers with the blueprint she uses for discovering personal styles. We hope you will be inspired by these rooms and will come away with creative energy to make your rooms beautiful, functional, colorful, and comfortable.

Mary Carol Garrity and her staff at Nell Hill's work with thousands of customers each year to help them bring their homes to life. Mary Carol's passion is to work with homeowners to make the rooms in their houses beautiful, colorful, functional, and special. In Nell Hill'sRooms We Love, Mary Carol shares some of her favorite decorating solutions, showing her readers inside the homes of the clients she has worked with to help them bring their dreams to life.

In this book, Mary Carol deconstructs the process that helps her work with the myriad of decorating challenges from her customers. It is a big order to think about redoing a room in a house, committing to a paint color or wallpaper, dozens of yards of fabric, new upholstery, area rugs that you will be living with for a while, and the investment of dollars and time spent on the makeover. Mary Carol demystifies the process by showing us through rooms she loves and calling out details that go into making the room successful.

Mary Carol defines success in decorating by working with customers to identify their own personal style. While the stores of Nell Hill's are packed full of great room settings, tableaus, and both big and little surprises, Mary Carol believes that people have a personal style that is uniquely their own. Her goal is to help you discover your own style by offering some guiding principles for your decisions.

Mary Carol's Guiding Principles:


Mary Carol believes that your style comes from mixing old with new, showcasing your keepsake treasures as well as your newly discovered surprises.
And she believes in comfort-providing spaces where you can sit down with a book and get cozy or where your guests will find a special amenity waiting just for them.
Mary Carol believes that a beautiful room always offers an unexpected delight.
She encourages you to bring the outdoors inside, using garden structures year-round in seasonal decorating.